Visa rules clip work for shearers

Stricter work visa regulations could prevent hundreds of New Zealand sheep shearers from helping Britain shear its 25 million sheep next month.

For decades New Zealand and Australia have contributed about 500 professional shearers to help cut fleeces during Britain's main shearing season from May until the end of July.

But the British Government's new points-based immigration system, which asks for biometric details such as fingerprints on work visas, is such a long process that few of the potential shearers have had their visa applications approved.

According to Britain's National Association of Agricultural Contractors, some have been told it will take up to nine weeks to get visas, compared with three or four weeks under the previous system.

Executive member Robert Morris, who is a shearing contractor, said the situation was "serious and critical". "These guys are world-class shearers who can each deal with up to 400 sheep a day, he said. "Unless all 500 of the shearers are allowed into the country, we can't shear a national flock in time and we will lose thousands of sheep to diseases and other problems."

Gavin Rowland, operations manager of Tectra, the organisation that trains shearers in New Zealand, said he had not been made aware of the problem but would be speaking to contacts in Britain this week.

May and June are quiet periods for shearing in New Zealand and young shearers are encouraged to get work experience offshore then.

Sending young shearers overseas also ensured the small amounts of work available in New Zealand was given to older shearers who could not travel.

Mr Rowlands said he did not want young workers to leave the industry if work dried up, which is what happened last time there was a lull.

The number of sheep is low at about 38 million but is expected to rise, and New Zealand needs to hang on to its workers, he said.

He fears rising unemployment will prompt the Government to tighten immigration regulations and is speaking to the Department of Labour to ensure changes do not have a negative impact on the industry.

"We look at the shearing workforce as an international workforce we rely on international shearers to help us during busy times," he said.

The new rules, introduced last November, require non-European Union workers to score a certain number of points to qualify for a permit, based on the migrant's ability, experience, age, language skills and demand in Britain for his or her skills.

They must have a certificate from an employer sponsoring their stay, and turn up to a facility run by the British embassy in their home country to provide biometric details.

Though the importance of shearing has been recognised with a high "skills score" in the points system, the contractors association says the time officials take to process the applications is prompting many to consider not bothering with the British shearing season.

Labour MP Michael Foster, who is Mr Morris' local MP, and whose Hastings and Rye constituency has Britain's highest concentration of sheep, has pressed the British Home Office to prioritise the applications.

"I don't think these new rules were intended to prevent skilled workers like sheep shearers from coming to the UK," he said.

However, a Home Office spokeswoman said: "The new system has been designed to be accessible, applications are processed quickly and there are no reported delays, with visas normally issued within 25 days or less."

- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Keith Perry